"Diary Of A B-17 Ball Turret Gunner" Topic

9 Posts

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Steve Wilcox	05 Aug 2014 5:46 p.m. PST
"Diary Of A B-17 Ball Turret Gunner": users.cloudnet.com/jfb
wrgmr1	05 Aug 2014 6:23 p.m. PST
Wow, really takes you right there. Thanks for posting.
Happy Little Trees	05 Aug 2014 6:48 p.m. PST
You couldn't get me to do that job. I don't know how they got guys to do that…twice.
Joep123	05 Aug 2014 7:46 p.m. PST
That was a great read. Thanks Joe
Skarper	05 Aug 2014 10:21 p.m. PST
Thanks from me too – by coincidence I picked the 749th Squadron from the 457th BG[H] [the author was with the 748th Sqn] for my current tour in my game. There is a superb site on the 457th – lots of similar personal recollections and other info plus some excellent hi res photos. 457thbombgroup.org
wrgmr1	06 Aug 2014 9:17 a.m. PST
Thanks Skarper. Just a quick look at the mission board; Mission to Dessau, May 28th, the group put up 48 aircraft and lost 15. Early on they had trouble getting a lot of aircraft up with lots of return early. The groups second mission the 457th squadron only put up 3 aircraft. Later they are consistently putting up 30+
DeRuyter	06 Aug 2014 10:22 a.m. PST
My father in law was a ball turret gunner on a Liberator flying out of Italy. I forget his squadron. He was on a mission when they got hit and the pilot told them to prepare to bail out, only he brought the wrong type of chute for his harness. They managed to crash land at a British fighter base with a short runway… He never heard end of it from his crew mates the rest of his tour!
Steve Wilcox	06 Aug 2014 11:09 a.m. PST
Glad you guys liked it and thanks for your link, too, Skarper!
Skarper	06 Aug 2014 8:26 p.m. PST
I find the raw data from these mission lists fascinating. We can find the mission the diary writer was on where 'only two game back'. The numbers don't quite correlate with there being 6 a/c lost and 2 returning early. Maybe another 2 a/c landed at other fields with damage and were not officially counted as lost though the diary author wouldn't see them return. The bomb load and fuel are the same as he states.

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